"Tch. That Lord of White Night, she snatched my prey." The [Perpetual Motion Engine] cast his blood-bright gaze over the clash between the Lord of White Night and the Twin Goddesses, clearly displeased.
"But… since [Heliocentrism] has descended again, I'll let it slide." He snorted.
"Well then, gods, buddhas, immortals who seeks to accept the trial? Come, taste fear. Try to withstand my cruelty! Heroes, come try to cross my banner… and then savor despair!" With a sweep of his arm, his swelling Divinity erupted without restraint. The pressure alone made the multitude of gods and immortals struggle to breathe; cold crept up their spines.
"[Perpetual Motion Engine], is it." Lingbao Tianzun stepped forward to face him, voice steady. "Immortals are a poor match against a Humanity's Final Trial by nature, but allow me to see if I can break you regardless."
"Heh. You won't." The [Perpetual Motion Engine] stared straight at Lingbao Tianzun, voice like ice. "You cannot cross this banner."
For all that immortals "touch upon the human," they are not truly human and lack the pure human causality needed to cross Humanity's Final Trial.
"Exactly, poor affinity," Lingbao Tianzun said, shaking his head. "If we cannot defeat you, then we'll try to weaken you. We'll hold you back and let the gods and buddhas prepare heroes. We'll bring deities down to a human level, and we'll help human champions grow. There are many ways to challenge you. We simply lack time."
"Hahaha! Immortal, my true nature will leave you in despair." The [Perpetual Motion Engine] laughed unrestrainedly, mocking heaven and earth.
He was not a Final Trial born of Little Garden's paradoxes; he was summoned by Riku. He is fated never to be crossed: an unsolvable existence. Sealing is the only path.
"Hm…?" Lingbao Tianzun frowned at the sight of that mad laughter; a faint unease rippled through him. At his level, intuition rarely erred. He grew still more solemn.
"Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, rise!" Not one to quail, Lingbao Tianzun's eyes hardened, and he moved. Taking himself as the formation's eye, the Immortal-Slaying Diagram unfolded; four peerless immortal swords- swords Immortal-Slaying, Immortal-Butchering, Immortal-Trapping, and Immortal-Annihilating took station at the four quarters, weaving a formation that could butcher a million divinities.
Killing qi saturated the array; brushing against it, and the bones were scraped clean. Divinity erased.
Within the formation, the [Perpetual Motion Engine] still stood tall, unmoved. His swelling Divinity battered the sword array in surging waves.
"That old Daoist's killer move… hope he's all right." Sun Wukong glanced over, frowning. The [Perpetual Motion Engine]'s aura was close to Riku's, and as Riku's retainer, he naturally drew her concern.
That formation had given her more than a little grief.
"Sword-qi to the Profound, annihilating ten thousand immortals!" Lingbao Tianzun intoned, immortal aura coiling.
In an instant, the sword formation's killing intent thickened to a gale; a storm of sword-qi swept toward the [Perpetual Motion Engine]. Space in the Little Garden shattered like glass wherever it passed, chilling the heart.
Boom!
The [Perpetual Motion Engine] answered the same simple, brutal way as ever: his swelling Divinity exploded outward; he threw a single punch. The storm of the End collided head-on with the storm of blades.
A sky-shaking roar followed, rattling the Divinity of myriad gods and buddhas; within the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, a vicious backlash burst forth.
That razor-edged aftershock made the straightforward brawler hard-pressed to defend perfectly; gashes carved across his whole body, blood raining down in sheets.
"Hahaha, you made me bleed." He grinned and laughed wantonly. Coupled with the wounds stripping him, he looked like a fiend that had clawed its way out of hell enough to make scalps prickle.
"Raaagh!"
Every drop of the [Perpetual Motion Engine]'s blood became his exact replica, howling as it took shape.
In a blink, the blood he had shed birthed hundreds of thousands of god-level clones inside the array, crashing and tearing at the formation from within.
And the wounds he'd taken were already knitting shut as if nothing had happened.
"So this is a Humanity's Final Trial!?" Even Lingbao Tianzun, one of the Three Pure Ones, felt his scalp numb.
Power that can only be crossed by humans; otherwise, an undying, unkillable body with grotesque regeneration. And now every drop of blood spawns an exact copy of him? Outrageous.
"What a handful," he muttered, helplessly driving the formation to its limits. In a flash, the array annihilated those hundreds of thousands of clones, yet the headache only grew.
In the Dawn Era, dealing with [Heliocentrism] or at any time confronting Humanity's Final Trial was the duty of gods and buddhas. Thus [Daoist] immortals had merely heard they were formidable; they had not expected this kind of nightmare. The formation's supreme killing power was hard-countered by the Final Trial's properties. Indeed, the proper way is for gods and buddhas to invoke host privileges and seal the Trial.
"Lingbao Tianzun, out of moves already? How dull," the [Perpetual Motion Engine] said, seeing through his mind. His grin widened; cold light flickered in those blood-red eyes.
"Out of moves? Hardly. Methods to deal with you, I have plenty. If immortals lack anything, it's certainly not artefacts." Lingbao Tianzun snorted, drawing forth his treasured immortal artefacts. Even knowing the battle ahead would be passive and punishing, he would not show weakness.
--
Elsewhere, Holy Son Jesus had already clashed with Dao De Tianzun, their two-digit auras flaring unchecked.
In pure matchup terms, Jesus shouldn't be Dao De Tianzun's equal. But Dao De Tianzun had been defeated by Riku, gravely wounded and sealed. Having just shaken off that seal, he remained weakened and thus couldn't put Jesus away. The reverse was also true: Jesus's strongest divine armament, the Spear of Longinus, had limited effect on an immortal like Dao De Tianzun.
At the centre of the battlefield, one spot drew even more attention than [Heliocentrism] for there, Yuanshi Tianzun and Shakyamuni flanked Riku from left and right.
No matter that the [Perpetual Motion Engine] and [Heliocentrism] were Humanity's Final Trials, both served under Riku. He was the true leader of the Demon King alliance, [Disboard]. Only by toppling Riku could they see a sliver of hope.
"Shakyamuni, who'd have thought we'd ever fight side by side," Yuanshi Tianzun said with a small shake of the head.
"Heh. The world is full of surprises," Shakyamuni sighed.
Daoism's Three Pure Ones and the Lord of Buddhism were natural rivals; never had they joined hands against a common foe.
"But our enemy this time is simply that strong." Bathed in Buddha-light, Shakyamuni fixed Riku with a grave stare.
"Mhm." Yuanshi Tianzun's eyes narrowed.
"Not making the first move? In that case, I'll end this boring standoff." Riku cut them both a sidelong glance, voice turning cold.
Power surged in his body at full output. Azure, droplet-like flames roared skyward, shaking the Little Garden; his figure vanished.
Boom!
Riku reappeared before Yuanshi Tianzun and drove a fist wreathed in boundless might straight at him.
"Raw power… works poorly on me," Yuanshi Tianzun said, unruffled. A light curtain blossomed before him an immortal artefact floated out and twisted Riku's strike aside.
"Tch. Immortals are a pain," Riku's eyes tightened.
Shakyamuni's Divinity flared at once; one palm fell, limitless Buddha-light collapsing the heavens as it descended.
Riku snorted and detonated a torrent of energy, shattering the golden palm. In the same breath, a starry firmament dropped from above, one brilliant star lit and pressed toward Shakyamuni.
Simulated Star Map — [Virtual Star: Taisui]!
"Virtual Star: Taisui… truly a troublesome Simulated Star Map," Shakyamuni thought, pupils narrowing as he mobilised the arts of [Three Thousand Worlds]. Taisui's sealing isn't as all-purpose as [Three Thousand Worlds], but it is a bane to gods, buddhas, and star-spirits alike.
While Riku pinned Shakyamuni, Yuanshi Tianzun turned his palm, producing another immortal artefact, a sword. He raised it, harmonising with a warped star overhead, then slashed down. A sundering arc ripped through creation, scything for Riku.
"Don't throw out trinkets and call it a day." Riku's expression didn't change. One punch blew the strike to dust. "If you want even a chance at winning, bring out your trump card."
He opened his hand. The Taiji Diagram bloomed into being, then wrapped Yuanshi Tianzun within it.
Yin–yang and the Five Phases unfurled; primordial violet qi poured forth; heaven and earth heaved.
"That's the Taiji Diagram… so he 'copied' even Dao De Tianzun's creation treasure?" Yuanshi Tianzun frowned. On the way here, he'd already heard from Lingbao Tianzun that Riku could wield [Three Thousand Worlds].
Unbelievable, logically paradoxical, even yet they had defaulted to calling Riku's versions "copies."
"'Copies'? No, both are the real thing," Riku replied evenly, controlling the Taiji Diagram and [Virtual Star: Taisui] at once. "If you don't act now, it'll be too late. You know exactly what the Taiji Diagram can do."
"The real thing, is it? Then let me test it." Yuanshi Tianzun's eyes slit further.
He flicked a white sleeve. An immortal artefact appeared in his hand, a banner, its silk a profound, heavenly yellow. At its emergence, a thousand streams of rosy light pierced the azure; ten thousand auspicious rays draped the firmament. It exuded peerless dominance and imperious majesty.
The instant that the banner unfurled, the Taiji Diagram trembled like it had met its natural foe.
"Pangu Banner," Riku breathed, gaze fixing on the cloth.
In myth, it bears the might to rend primordial chaos, the force to shatter the myriad heavens and times, the sovereignty to command all laws, and the power to open the vault of creation. It can marshal the might of heaven and earth; in attack and in genesis, it ranks first beneath the Way.
From the banner's weave, the Dipper-Slaying baleful qi surged as if to unmake chaos and reopen the cosmos; upon the silk was wrought the supreme tableau Pangu cleaving heaven and earth with his axe.
"Yes and no," Yuanshi Tianzun said with a slight shake of the head. "This is an immortal artefact I refined from the first breath of chaos at my birth. It is not that legendary banner. In this Little Garden, existences above a certain tier cannot be born.
"Even so, it can reproduce a portion of the legend's might enough to rival the Taiji Diagram, and in some respects, to surpass it." He spoke with quiet pride.
Just as Yuanshi Tianzun said, the Pangu Banner before them wasn't the full, legendary original that can sunder chaos and pulverise the myriad heavens and timelines, but it was anything but simple.
At the moment its chaotic aura fully erupted, the Taiji Diagram's hongmeng world shuddered.
[Pangu Banner — Heaven-Opening Edge!]
The law of Breaking to cleave through ten thousand worlds!
[Pangu Banner — Primordial Creation Light!]
The law of Establishing to part Yin and Yang sets the Five Phases, and derives inexhaustible earth, water, fire, and wind!
[Pangu Banner — Hongmeng Barrier!]
The law of Forbidding to derange the primal whole, befog heaven and earth, and evolve endless "chaotic worlds"!
All three mysteries are unleashed at once. The Taiji Diagram's mysteries were unravelled; even its hongmeng world was drowned beneath chaos.
"So this is the Pangu Banner… no wonder they say it outranks the Taiji Diagram. In a sense, it hard-counters it," Riku narrowed his eyes. His control over the Diagram thinned as the chaotic world sealed him in on all sides.
The Pangu Banner sought to refine him into nothingness.
Elsewhere, because Riku was sealed within the Banner's chaotic world, his grip on the Simulated Star Map, [Virtual Star: Taisui], faltered. Shakyamuni broke through it with ease.
"Om mani padme hum…"
Rosary beads rolled as the mantra pealed across the firmament. The Simulated Star Map, [Three Thousand Worlds], re-manifested and closed from Riku's flank and rear meant to combine with the Pangu Banner and seal him completely. Though [Three Thousand Worlds] had been damaged by Riku's earlier havoc, it was still more than enough to imprison one man.
In the Buddha Lord's mind, this was the best sealing window they could ask for; he had to go all in.
Everyone felt it: eyes swung toward the decisive moment. The Lord of Buddhism and the head of the Three Pure Ones were joining hands against the strongest Demon King; the outcome would steer this entire war of gods and demons.
"Heh… you're not leaving me even half a step back," Riku laughed into the jaws of crisis.
In this mode, he wasn't without limits. Against a full-power [Three Thousand Worlds] from Shakyamuni or a full-power Pangu Banner from Yuanshi Tianzun, he could break or offset either with the Simulated Star Map, [Third Star: Particle Body], or his own [Three Thousand Worlds]. But he couldn't bring both trump cards to full at the same time.
To face both at once, each unleashed to the utmost, was too costly. Perhaps he could crack the Banner only to be sealed by [Three Thousand Worlds]. Even owning that map himself would mean being stalled for a while. And this was a battlefield: half a heartbeat could sway the end. If Shakyamuni and Yuanshi Tianzun were freed to act, the consequences would be dire.
"Shakyamuni. Yuanshi Tianzun. Credit where it's due, you've done well," Riku's voice threaded calmly through the pressure as he held both ultimates at bay.
The two exchanged brief frowns, and an unease prickled their hearts.
"After all… I honestly thought I wouldn't have to use this card," starlight flashed in Riku's eyes.
He willed, drew a card from the system space and used it.
In that instant, phenomena erupted.
The heavens already rattled by [Heliocentrism]'s return fell eerily still. Then the stars blazed rivers of silver pouring across the vault, galaxies upon galaxies unfurling like a luminous Milky Way.
The spectacle outshone even the [Heliocentrism]'s second advent and the reappearance of the White Night Horizon.
Across the field, Lord of White Night, the Twin Goddesses, Lingbao Tianzun, the [Perpetual Motion Engine], Holy Son Jesus, the Halloween Queen, Sun Wukong, everyone halted in shock, gazes locked on the wonder.
"What is… this…!?" Shakyamuni and Yuanshi Tianzun felt it most keenly. Their pupils pin-pricked as they stared at Riku, faces gone taut with alarm.
Silver rays then descended and sank into Riku. His blue hair vanished. In its place came a form unseen till now:
Iris and hair traced with argent lines, the eyes turning silver-grey; at the peak, the hair itself shifting completely to silver-grey. A silver aura wreathed him in absolute purity, absolute nature as if his power had melted seamlessly into his being.
With just a turn of his eyes, the whole Little Garden convulsed, more violently than ever before, as if the world itself were keening.
"This power…!" Even the two-digits stood dumbstruck; words crumbled under the pressure, minds stalling under sheer oppression. Only their frozen faces told the tale.
The Halloween Queen and Lord of White Night, in the same heartbeat, recalled an old exchange with Riku.
"Is this your limit?"
He had merely smiled. "No. What I'm using isn't even one ten-thousandth of what's hidden."
"One ten-thousandth… so that was him being modest," the Halloween Queen breathed.
[Ultra Instinct]